Tag: Israel

DETROIT — For the past 33 years, David Tenenbaum has worked as a civilian engineer at the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, known as TACOM, near 11 Mile and Mound roads in Warren, a suburb of Detroit.

And for a good part of that time, he tells the Detroit Jewish News, he was subjected to vile anti-Semitism from co-workers and from the Army itself. At one point, he was falsely accused by co-workers of being a spy for Israel, something that eventually triggered a painful FBI probe.

Tenenbaum, a Southfield, Mich., resident, was eventually cleared. And in 2008, the Inspector General found that Tenenbaum was “subjected to unusual and unwelcome scrutiny because of his faith and ethnic background, a practice that would undoubtedly fit a definition of discrimination.”

Still, til this day, he says he has been purposely underutilized, subjected to isolation and remains a pariah at work.

Now, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Michigan Democrat Sen. Gary Peters, a committee member, have sent a letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis asking that he provide closure and relief for the 60-year-old Tenenbaum. They want the Army to stop any workplace retaliation, and stop limiting his opportunities.

One of the reason he was hired at TACOM was his familiarity with Israel and his ability to speak Hebrew with Israeli counterparts.

The Jewish News reports:

Everything fell apart, however, when some of Tenenbaum’s local co-workers secretly and falsely accused him of spying for Israel in 1996. Tenenbaum later discovered they had been secretly accusing him of such spying as early as 1992. He found out they would observe him, an Orthodox Jew, carrying his kosher lunch to work every day in a backpack and they would fantasize that the backpack could be used to smuggle classified documents out of the building.

Some co-workers didn’t like him, he said, because he was a diligent employee who didn’t goof off on the job or join co-workers at restaurants for lunch or at bars after office hours. Some co-workers made anti-Semitic remarks behind his back, and a bag of pork rinds was once placed on his desk.

He recounts that one reason people said they suspected him of spying for Israel was that he spoke Hebrew with the Israelis — ironically one of his major qualifications for being hired at TACOM in the first place.

The letter by the two senators says:

“DOD’s lack of a remedy in accordance with the Inspector General’s findings sends a message that DOD is not concerned with even the most egregious cases of discrimination and employee retaliation,

The FBI helped locate and arrest the suspect accused of threatening Jewish organizations across the U.S. and other parts of the world.

The suspect was in Israel.

The Israeli National Police worked with the FBI to help locate the suspect, whose identity has not been revealed.

“Investigating hate crimes is a top priority for the FBI, and we will continue to work to make sure all races and religions feel safe in their communities and in their places of worship,” the FBI said in a statement.

The bureau declined to provide more information at this time.

Since Donald Trump was elected president, reported hate crimes have soared, including threats against Jewish people.

The Justice Department, which is investigating, said private information, such as Social Security numbers, didn’t appear to be breached, CNN reports.

“The department is looking into the unauthorized access of a system operated by one of its components containing employee contact information,” said Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr. “This unauthorized access is still under investigation; however, there is no indication at this time that there is any breach of sensitive personally identifiable information. The department takes this very seriously and is continuing to deploy protection and defensive measures to safeguard information. Any activity that is determined to be criminal in nature will be referred to law enforcement for investigation.”

Trying to combat published reports that the FBI has scolded Israeli diplomats dozens of times for spying on American intelligence since 9/11, the former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. said the allegations were baseless.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the former ambassador, Michael Oren, insisted the relationship between the two countries has been solid and was never compromised by unfounded claims of rampant Israeli spying.

Newsweek magazine published reports last week that Israeli officials were frequently spying on the U.S. and were summoned by the FBI dozens of times to knock it off.

“Beginning in the mid-1990s, well after Israel promised to stop spying in the US in the wake of the Pollard affair, the FBI regularly felt compelled to summon Israeli diplomats in DC for a scolding, two former top counterintelligence officials told ‘Newsweek.’ During the decade following 9/11, one said, the Israelis were summoned ‘dozens’ of times and told to ‘cut the shit,’ as one, a former top FBI official, put it. But as an ‘ally,’ the Israelis almost always got off with only a warning.”

By Allan Lengelticklethewire.comAssistant Director Mike Prout of the U.S. Marshals Service was among a group of U.S. law enforcement officials who are currently in Israel attending seminars on terrorism.

A delegation of executives are participating in an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) National Counter-Terrorism Seminar (NCTS) from March 8-16, and meeting with security experts, intelligence analysts and commanders in the Israel National Police. There are also some law enforcement officials from other countries attending.

As part of the program, the ADL says the group will attend high-level briefings on the operational response to terrorism, border and airport security, maintaining safety and access to holy sites, the role of advanced technology in policing, and use of media during a crisis.

“The purpose and goals of the seminar are to share best practices and lessons learned in fighting terrorism and to increase cooperation between American law enforcement and their Israeli counterparts in order to better protect the citizens of these two democratic nations, ” David Friedman, Director of National Law Enforcement Initiatives for ADL, said in a statement to ticklethewire.com.

Those participating include: the President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, First Vice President, International Association of Chiefs of Police, First Deputy Superintendent, Chicago Police Department; Inspector, New York City Police; ,Deputy Assistant Director, Naval Criminal Investigative Service; Director, National Operations Center, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Executive Associate Director, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations; Colonel, Austrian National Police; Lieutenant Colonel, Italian National Policel Chief of Police for the Baton Rouge Police Department; Kansas City Police Chief; Arlington, Tex., Police Chief; and Deputy Denver Police Chief.